The invention relates to a wheel suspension for the rear wheels of motor vehicles.
The driving dynamics of modern motor vehicles is typically influenced also by the wheel suspensions of the rear wheels, whose control arms operating as wheel guiding elements produce specific driving characteristics, for example a specific understeering tendency, etc., due to their spatial arrangement and due to the elasticity of the control arm bearings
Various technical solutions exist for a technical implementation of rear axle steering of a (road) vehicle. Typically, the tie rod is moved or its length is changed. Other embodiments with a divided wheel carrier are known, as described, for example, in US 20020036385, WO 199816418 or in FR 2884795. A separated wheel carrier of this type is divided into a carrier part, a guide part and an interconnected actuator having two rotary parts which can rotate with respect to one another and with respect to the guide part and carrier part. The carrier part can be adjusted relative to the guide part for camber and/or toe adjustment with electrical actuator motors. However, the construction and implementation of wheel suspensions with or without the aforementioned adjusting device is relatively complicated and expensive.
Conventional rear axle steering arrangements always require conventionally constructed wheel guiding, starting with an axle principle of conventional construction. If steering is desired, then the steering function is added to the axle by suitable measures. For example, the tie rod and/or a control arm may be moved or their length be changed. In addition, the aforementioned divided wheel carriers are known which can be pivoted accordingly. Disadvantageously, however, the overall axle structure is already very complex, even without the steering option. The technical complexity, expenditures, and costs increase further when steerability is desired.
It is an object of the invention to propose a wheel suspension of the generic type which allows almost arbitrarily steerable wheel positions and advantageous driving characteristics of the motor vehicle by eliminating complex control arms and control arm bearings and which has a structurally simple design.